Rivals with Pitt?

[HoopsMalone]

Pitt and MU have had some great games dating back to the Sweet 16 in 2003.  It is always fun when they come to the BC.  Pitt and MU had a great game at the Garden a few years ago too for the BE tourney.  ESPN alse picked MU/Pitt for Gameday in 07.

Now, can we move Pitt up with Louisville, ND, Wisco, DePaul (they will always be, no use arguing), or even Cincy? 

I would argue that MU has had many tough games with Pitt and Nova, so Pitt can be considered as such.  Thursday is for position in the conference again.  Is this a spudding rivalry?  I would say yes.  Not quite there, but another nice game or two and it is.

[marq101]

There has been some great games in recent years.  Going back a couple years, there was no player I wanted us to beat more than Aaron Gray. I don't really know/remember why but I couldn't stand watching that guy.

[nycwarrior]

Levance Fields was a heartbreaking warrior-killer. That guy always seemed to make a play right when Pitt needed it. Particularly against us.

[muhoosier260]

i think MU leads 4-3 since entering BE. thats pretty good, and most of the games have been good ones. MU beat Pitt pretty good at home two years ago, but other than that and Pitt returning the favor last year, they've been good games.

[TheDawson]

Marquette's fans will be jacked for this one and win by 8.

Dixon is one of the best coaches in the nation and he'll have his team ready, but I dont think Pitt will make the shots they need to hit down the stretch

[muarmy81]

I would agree that this is a budding rivalry.  The games are competitve and both teams are solid year in and year out.  Aren't pitt and MU the only 2 teams to win at least 10 games every year in conference since the new BEast was formed?

[chapman]

4-4 since joining the BE.  Two of them obviously unfair since they were in the Big East Tournament, and as Len Elmore likes to point out, most of their players are from New York and really look forward to that tournament. 

http://muscoop.com/wiki/doku.php/men_s_basketball/pittsburgh

1/28/2006 Pittsburgh  L 77-71  @#12 Pitt 
2/18/2006 Milwaukee  W 84-82  #9 Pitt 
1/21/2007 Pittsburgh  W 77-74  #6 Pitt, Overtime 
3/03/2007 Milwaukee  W 75-71  #12 Pitt, College Gameday 
03/08/2007 New York  L 79-89  BEast Tournament 
02/15/2008 Milwaukee  W 72-54  #24 Pitt 
3/14/2008 New York  L 61-68  BEast Tournament 
3/04/2009 Pittsburgh  L 75-90  #3 Pitt 

But speaking of the BET, another interesting tidbit is that all of MU's 4 BET elimination losses have come against teams it beat in the regular season (Georgetown '06, Pitt '07-'08, Nova '09).  In '07 we had beaten Pitt twice, in '09 we split with Nova.

[bma725]

DePaul (they will always be, no use arguing)

Sure there is.  We all though Loyola-Chicago would always be our rival as well, look how that turned out.  Any of the schools you name could very easily not be our rival in the near future depending on how the conference realignment shakes out...including DePaul.  There's simply no such thing as a permanent rival.

[wiscoave]

No such thing as a permanent rival? If UConn or GTown switched conferences, Syracuse would find a way to play them every year during the non-conference schedule. Same goes for Duke-UNC and several others.

And I dont think we could really build that great of a rivalry with Pitt. For one, geography plays a role. There is nothing worse than seeing a couple sections worth of opposing fans in your own stadium. We dont travel to the east coast schools despite the fact that they sometimes travel here. Two, they have the Backyard Brawl; while we could establish a nice short-term "feud," nothing will be bigger than the WVU game for them since its actually more of a football rivalry than a bball one (they just keep building it up to the point that it is over-flowing into all their other teams).

[bma725]

No such thing as a permanent rival? If UConn or GTown switched conferences, Syracuse would find a way to play them every year during the non-conference schedule. Same goes for Duke-UNC and several others.

There isn't, never has been and never will be such a thing as a permanent rival.  If one of the schools you mention decides they are no longer willing to spend what it takes to be a high major, while the other still is, the rivalry will fade away like it has done many times in the past.

Marquette and Loyola were rivals dating back decades then Loyola chose to de-emphasize athletics...not a rivalry anymore and we've stopped playing them.  Marquette and Detroit were rivals going back to nearly the begining of Marquette basketball.  Then Detroit chose not to keep up in the arms race of major college basketball, the rivalry ended, and we've played them once in the last 19 years.

Look at some of the schools that have chosen to move out of the bigger conferences or move down a division or two throughout history.  They all had rivalries, and those rivalries all died when they made that decision.

[rocky_warrior]

We dont travel to the east coast schools despite the fact that they sometimes travel here.

Speak for yourself.  I think you need to get out of Milwaukee more to realize that Marquette fans actually travel pretty well.  I'll be @cincy, @SJU, and @SHU.  (not to mention, going to WVU @ UConn and Nova @ Cuse).  While we don't exactly take over other stadiums (other than @ DePaul), Marquette usually uses it's whole allotment of tickets for away games, plus a chunk of fans that get tickets from external sources.

Last year I was @UL, and @Pitt, and while we were stuck in the upper deck (so you'd never see us on TV), there were a bunch of MU fans there.

Plus, I think you're underestimating the # of Marquette alums on the east coast.

[chapman]

Speak for yourself.  I think you need to get out of Milwaukee more to realize that Marquette fans actually travel pretty well.  I'll be @cincy, @SJU, and @SHU.  (not to mention, going to WVU @ UConn and Nova @ Cuse).  While we don't exactly take over other stadiums (other than @ DePaul), Marquette usually uses it's whole allotment of tickets for away games, plus a chunk of fans that get tickets from external sources.

Last year I was @UL, and @Pitt, and while we were stuck in the upper deck (so you'd never see us on TV), there were a bunch of MU fans there.

Plus, I think you're underestimating the # of Marquette alums on the east coast.

Agreed.  Also a much better contingent than I expected managed to infiltrate the tiny Pavillion at Nova last month.  Also planning on going @SHU and hoping for @SJU though doubtful.  I've seen enough to believe MU fans have at least an above average away game presence.

[LON]

No such thing as a permanent rival? If UConn or GTown switched conferences, Syracuse would find a way to play them every year during the non-conference schedule. Same goes for Duke-UNC and several others.

And I dont think we could really build that great of a rivalry with Pitt. For one, geography plays a role. There is nothing worse than seeing a couple sections worth of opposing fans in your own stadium. We dont travel to the east coast schools despite the fact that they sometimes travel here. Two, they have the Backyard Brawl; while we could establish a nice short-term "feud," nothing will be bigger than the WVU game for them since its actually more of a football rivalry than a bball one (they just keep building it up to the point that it is over-flowing into all their other teams).

There's been several away games (not referencing DePaul) when you can hear the "We are Marquette" cheers over the TV broadcast.

ND and G'Town just last year to name a couple.

[MUfan12]

I'll add to it... anyone who was in DC the past two Georgetown games knows that MU fans travel very well, especially for weekend games.

[wiscoave]

Funny. I dont live in Milwaukee; I live in NYC and attend quite a few games (not just MU games but virtually any interesting BE show-down). And yes, our fans dont travel very well (although Im not sure I would call it "traveling" since opposing teams' fans are simply coming from nyc and we dont exactly pump out kids destined for that city upon graduation).

Based on my observations, rankings would look something like this:
1) Syracuse
2) UConn
3) Pitt
4) Nova
5) GTown
6) WVU

And I was at the senior game last year. Do you really think as many MU fans went to the Carrier Dome this year as Syracuse fans went to the Bradley Center last year? No way.

[rocky_warrior]

Funny. I dont live in Milwaukee; I live in NYC and attend quite a few games

Fair enough, I misjudged you, but I still disagree that MU fans don't travel well

[77ncaachamps]

Crazy. Pitt's ALWAYS been ranked when we've played them.

As for the PERMANENT RIVAL status, only a few schools would satisfy in my mind: Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Louisville, Illinois.

[martyconlonontherun]

I think it has more to do with them being consistently good and I think we look at this more of a rivalry than we do. However, who knows in 5 years. It all depends how close the two team are and how good they are.

[reinko]

Crazy. Pitt's ALWAYS been ranked when we've played them.

As for the PERMANENT RIVAL status, only a few schools would satisfy in my mind: Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Louisville, Illinois.

Illini?  Sure, f them.

[Brewtown Andy]

Aren't pitt and MU the only 2 teams to win at least 10 games every year in conference since the new BEast was formed?

Yup.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Based on my observations, rankings would look something like this:
1) Syracuse
2) UConn
3) Pitt
4) Nova
5) GTown
6) WVU

Any list that doesn't have Louisville as the #1 ranked school for traveling fans is just not right. They bus people in...two and three busloads for every game at the BC. Syracuse was NOTHING. In fact, none of those schools hold a candle to Louisville and, I'd suggest hardly any of them travel as well as MU does.
 
Georgetown? Seriously? If they had 20 people at the game this year I'd be shocked. West Virginia should probably be right behind Louisville.

[wiscoave]

Any list that doesn't have Louisville as the #1 ranked school for traveling fans is just not right. They bus people in...two and three busloads for every game at the BC. Syracuse was NOTHING. In fact, none of those schools hold a candle to Louisville and, I'd suggest hardly any of them travel as well as MU does.
 
Georgetown? Seriously? If they had 20 people at the game this year I'd be shocked. West Virginia should probably be right behind Louisville.

You're right!!! My bad. I guess I failed to identify all of the MU fans that have gone to the BE tourney the last 3 years. I suppose Ive had a couple too many drinks those weekends and didnt notice that MU fans outnumbered ever other school on the list I presented. Go figure...

[foreverwarriors]

I think it has more to do with them being consistently good and I think we look at this more of a rivalry than we do.

I'll agree with you to an extent, but after going to the game last year and working with quite a few Pitt alum, there are a good chunk of them that do see us as a legit rival even after just a few years playing each other.

They look forward to playing us because they know they are going to get a competitive game with both teams and fans going into it with a lot of passion...and I really think that passion is the main thing that creates a rivalry (hence why a lot of people don't see DePaul as a rival anymore).

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

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[PuertoRicanNightmare]

You're right!!! My bad. I guess I failed to identify all of the MU fans that have gone to the BE tourney the last 3 years. I suppose Ive had a couple too many drinks those weekends and didnt notice that MU fans outnumbered ever other school on the list I presented. Go figure...

Oh, I see!! So you're saying Syracuse has a lot of fans at the Big East tournament? Thanks for the insight!!